The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-02
A Talk with the Man Who .Embalmed
the Body Of the Murdered President.
DR.. HamiltOn's Experiments in Trying to Lo-
cate the Bullet by Firing Into Suspend
ed Corpse-New Facts as to the Autopsy.
Gail HamiltOn's Great Powers as Con-
trOversialist and Teller of Stories.
The German Barber Talks Again After Pro-
tracted Season of Sience-A Pathetic
Dissertation on Holiday Pleasures.


THE GARFIELD AUTOPSY.
Talk with the Man Who Embalmed the
Body of President Garfield.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK, Jan. LIT was not idle curiosity
nor ghoulish propensity that took me up the
winding iron stairway OF the medical department
of the New York University, the other day, to
the dssecting room, but the assurance OF
student friend that would probably hear story
| there that would be worth the telling. / shall
| not, therefore, shock the reader with any PEN
pictures of what saw in that room, although
| may say in passing that. by the skillful en-
balming of the subjects and the perfect santa
tion secured in this institution. the study and
| practical demonstration of the wonderful and
beautiful science of anatomy is robbed of many
of the revolving features that formerly attended it.
| The presiding genius of the place is DR.. F. D.
| Weisse, than whom, I presume. there is not in
| this country more learned and skillful anat-
| omist, or one who makes his lectures and dem
| onstrations more absorbingly interesting Once
warmed up in his subject-and ne always warns
up when he lectures to a class-he becomes de-
| lichtfuly eloquent. and when he takes the knife
| in hand to show upon the subject what he has
described in language and illustrated by charts.
the organs he would display appear as by magic
| beneath his skillful manipulation. It is an in
| tellectual treat, even for one unfamiliar with the
science. to listen to of DR.. Weisses lectures.
His chief lieutenant and executive officer is
Jimmy Walsh, a mddle-aged man of medium
| stature, pleasing face, agreeable address and
quick intelligence His duty is to obtain the
subjects for dissection from the public institu-
tions embalm and prepare them for the use of
| the students. keep the dissecting room in a
proper sanitary condition, and attend upon DR..
I Wesse at his lectures and demonstrations. Al
though not professionally educated, "Jimmys"
| thirteen years experience in the departments of
anatomy of the New York University and Belle
vue Hospital Medical Colleges has given him
familiarity with the structure Of the human
body possessed by very few specialists even.
The students go to him freely for assistance and
4 instruction in their 6issecting. and he always
gives it in cheerful, modest way.
Didn't Dr. Frank Hamilton come up here
frequently during the last sickness of President
Garfeld?n asked of Jimmy" desiring to draw
him into conversation upon that interesting sub
ject
Yes, he came here every time he returned
from visit to Washington. Gunshot wounds
were his specially you know and he made many
experiments here to determine the penetrative
power of bullet shot from pistol such as was
used by Guiteau, and to learn if possible, the
course the ball would take"
How were those experiments made2n
II got body for hm--that Of 4 man weighing
|
hook" pointing to bracket of iron extending
about three feet from the wall, near the ceiling.
Then stood off about nine feet and fired the
pistol at the body. If the balls did not strike q
bone, they went through the body, as though i,
offered almost resistance; if they did, they
glanced, and it impossible to tell where they
would go. Here are some of the marks of them.
pointing to holes in the wall that had been filled
UP with plaster, and to an anatomical chart, the
} glass over which was broken.
, ibid Dr. Hamilton succeed in locating the
bullet in General Garields body by these ex
periments"
He thought he did. After his last visit t,
Washington he came up here, and, taking
: bullet he turned back the flap where the alb
! domen of the subject had been opened, placed i
in position, and putting the flap back in III
place. said to Dr. Weissc that he knew .us
, where that ball was. for he felt it when he pu
: his finger General Garfeld's body just Al
, plainly as ne then felt it in the subj ect befor
, him. The point he indicated was about two
inches to the left of the medal line of the body
in front and about two inches above PouparJ,
t ligament."
"You were present at the autopsy, were yo,
, not'7
, II was"
! What took placer
: when the body was ready for the post m or
9 tenn DR.. Hamilton placed his finger on the spot
!. | have already mentioned and told DIR. Lamb, o
. the Army Medical Museum. at Washington
: | who performed the operation, to make his open
. . ing there. DIR. Lamb did So and put his han,
: in but could feel nothing of the ball. Then DR.
q Hamilton, who seemed much surprised that
= = was Tot found and some what excited, told me I
: | see what could find, but il wasn't there. The
! the doctors directed that tse body be opened a
= | the abdomen, and when this was done the Wis
= = cera. stomach ard lungs removed an
= placed in vessel but no trace of the bullet wa
. found. There was good deal of confusion OWN
e to orders being given by several of the doctors
;. DR.. Lamb stood on the left side of the body an
- / upon the right side assisting him. Dr.
Agnew stood over me, Dr. Bliss at tn
, head, and the others were scattere
!, about the room. None of the doctors handles
~ the parts because of the presence Of py;emic ab
- scesses and the danger of blood poisoning. Dr.
Andrew H. Smith. of Elberon. examinin
:, the organ in the bowl, and he found the ball be
- tween the spleen and the kidney"
~ Wasn't that some distance from any point q
% | which il had previously been locatedlp
,,a Yes, nobody was looking for 1t there. Th
. fractured piece OF spine was removed and
:, now in the Army Medical Museum Mt Washing
r ton. put the body in order again. subsiitutin